Good evening, honourable members of the Standing Committee on Health.
We would like to begin by thanking you for inviting us here. We want to take this opportunity to commend the Canadian government for agreeing to better regulate pre-mixed drinks combining high alcohol, caffeine, and sugar content.
Today, Canadians are looking to you to provide effective and safe regulations in order to better protect our teenagers and young adults and to prevent the kind of excessive drinking that can result in an alcohol-induced coma causing death, as was unfortunately the case for the young Athéna Gervais. The Quebec market in particular is inundated by these highly sugary alcoholic drinks.
The Association pour la santé publique du Québec, the ASPQ, considers long-term health a public right, an economic and social benefit that calls for both individual and public responsibility.
Through its role, the government has a direct impact on public health. It must make it a priority to be proactive in the delivery of health care. In that vein, the ASPQ would like Canada to build the recommendations you make on this file and work with the provinces and territories on adopting and implementing a national strategy on alcohol as a preventive measure.
Allow me to present some of the facts. As stated a few minutes ago, alcohol, like tobacco and cannabis, is a psychoactive substance. Since 1988, alcohol has been classed as a carcinogenic substance by the international centre for health research. Scientific studies show that the risk of cancer increases with the average consumption of one glass a day. This increased risk is proportional to the quantity of alcohol consumed. Any regular consumption of alcohol, no matter how small the amount, comes with risk.
Young people are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than adults and they are at greater risk of suffering significant physical harm. Their blood alcohol level increases more quickly as a result of their lower weight. At their age, the enzyme responsible for eliminating alcohol is underdeveloped. Their bodies are in a development stage. Sugar and carbon dioxide accelerate the movement of alcohol in the blood and young people end up getting drunk faster. Two hours after consuming just one can of these drinks, or the equivalent of four regular drinks, a young adult's blood alcohol concentration might be higher than the legal limit, and consuming two cans can put them at a high risk of intoxication.
The success of these drinks comes from the following: the fruity taste, the trendy packaging, targeted marketing strategies, and advertising. These drinks are targeted to young people in particular, who end up being regular consumers of alcohol at an earlier age. The makers of FCKDUP add on their website: “Combining guaranas with 11.9% grape nectar is like boosting your sports care with nitrous. If you want to go from zero to party in a few gulps, drink the purple.” It uses a formidably effective marketing style that appeals to young people by selling them a lifestyle. It promotes alcohol abuse and that is extremely dangerous.
In order to reduce health risks, the Association is recommending the following. To limit the quantity of alcohol, the can format should change so that it no longer contains more than the equivalent of one standard glass of alcohol. It also recommends setting a minimum price adjusted to the alcohol concentration to prevent the sale of alcohol at under market value, and automatically increasing the excise tax.
As far as the marketing is concerned, the ASPQ recommends foregoing self-regulation — voluntary measures in the alcohol industry are ineffective and are seriously flawed. It recommends banning the use of flavourings that naturally contain caffeine, as they create a misleading image — the industry uses the addition of these ingredients as a marketing strategy. The ASPQ recommends strictly enforcing the Regulation respecting promotion, advertising and educational programs relating to alcoholic beverages, recognizing that all the messages published on social media are advertising content.
As far as added sugar and sweetener is concerned, the Association recommends reducing the sugar content from 11% to 5% in these drinks, so that the taste of alcohol is not masked. It also recommends requiring nutrition labelling because this is a food item.
Canada, the provinces, and the territories will benefit from better monitoring of the behaviour associated with alcohol consumption, including when it comes to the number of ER admittances, the amount of self-medication, the combination with other psychoactive substances or drugs, and so forth. In closing, the Association reiterates the importance of adopting and implementing, together with the provinces and territories, a coherent national strategy on alcohol to protect all Canadians.
Thank you very much.